 The 1928 Alden Malabar Junior IMAGINE being delivered to Sonny's Boat Club on City Island, NY, circa 1975 Tony Bianco found her in derelict condition in a CT boatyard and paid a fortune for her: $1,000 |
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 As found
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 As found |
 A desperate condition |
 The transom completely rotten and had to be removed |
 Damaged planks removed to expose frames and floors that are intact (some) |
 Sternpost & horn timber mostly sound--frame ends marginal |
 Cockpit all rotten--cabin trunk & coachroof marginal |
 Bad frames removed--many bad planks removed |
 New planks installed by Tony prior to my arrival in 1981; Tony worked for about seven years in his spare time replacing planks |
 I believe these must be the first planks installed when I came on the scene |
 New deck beams--the sheer clamps and beam shelves were servicable |
 The cabin front--all deck beams were rotten; We lifted the cabin slightly to facilitate replacing the deck |
 I went to work on IMAGINE in late summer of 1981; My crew of two teenage boys (Paul Newman shown here) and I removed everything from inside the hull prior to starting; See "A Story of Priorities"--my first article in WoodenBoat Magazine--Issue #65 |
 Paul is shown chopping out rot for a graving piece |
 We reefed out old caulking from all existing seams prior to re-caulking |
 Tony hired Chris--an 85 year old retired caulker from Barbedos--to caulk seams for us |
 Chris Caulking |
 Meanwhile, we worked on replacing all deck beams with sawn white oak; Eliot Greenspan shown here applying varnish prior to installation; We saved some of the chain plate backup blocks (left) |
 Paul using an electric screwdriver to fasten beam ends with silicon bronze screws |
 Tony made the new transom--and vertical frames--from white oak stock |
 Because planked decks eventually fail and cause rot to frames and planking, I prefer to lay marine plywood decks (heresy!); Here the deck undersides are being prepainted with Sherwin Williams Tile Clad epoxy paint prior to laying |
 Here Eliot is applying plastic resin glue to the beam tops |
 We fastened the deck using bronze ring-shank nails driven by hand--Reuel & Paul |
 We laid the side decks right under the existing cockpit coamings |
 Inside the hull showing the pre-painted deck over pre-varnished oak beams--nice! |
 The 54-foot tall mast being varnished; Various wood components being prepainted (right); A mess of rigging & tools (left) |
 The wire halyard winch refurbished; It was evident that some hardware was original (1920s), and that some was retrofitted |
 The masthead with a mixture of bronze and stainless steel tangs (after cleaning) |
 Mast tangs, thumb cleat, and steaming light |
 The main boom sanded prior to varnish |
 Tony helping to measure for the
outer forestay
|
 Reuel up the mast with the other end of the tape measure |
 Reuel attaching upper shrouds |
 Reuel working on the carburetor for the ancient Hercules gas engine |
 Reuel and neighbor Ted--I built a big tool box out of plywood (left) with removable lid (right) which functions as a work bench set on two saw horses. |
 Reuel with the Hercules--getting it running after rebuilding it |
 The monster--salt-water cooled! Note the flywheel in front with fitting for hand crank |
 We coated the entire bottom with red lead paint prior to antifouling |
 Reuel fitting a white oak rubrail |
 Reuel sanding the transom top for the mahogany cap (standing on edge) |
Reuel chiseling mortises in the transom cap |
 Cutting the dado trough in the underside of a mahogany rail cap |
 Reuel and Cochise with a rail cap--lots of Honduran mahogany |
 The transom rail cap in place; bulwark caps on; We saved the oak tiller and main boom traveler; We made all new running rigging--3-strand Dacron; We burnished and reinstalled the original bronze cleats |
 A very sweet stern |
 IMAGINE (named after the assaination of John Lennon) in the slings, about to be launched for the first time in many, many years |
 Paul and Cochise |
 In the slings |
 She floats! |
 IMAGINE and FISHERS HORNPIPE |
 Yes!! |
 Yes!! John G. Alden Malabar Jr. |
 Imagine that.... |
 Hauled out for the winter |
 Kathy and Teresa at the woodenBoat Show in Newport, RI--1985 |
 Heading home to City Island |
 IMAGINE under sail in Long Island Sound |
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